Barcelona

Yes, it's not the Camino but rather it's Las Ramblas in Barcelona.

I've now started the return journey to Australia with a quick flight
from Santiago to Barcelona. On Monday I begin the arduous ordeal of
the flight back to Australia. Give me a 37km walk any day!

The newspapers and TV news have been giving quite a bit of coverage to
the snow, especially in Galicia. I do feel for the peregrinos who are
still walking. I really was very lucky to have such a dream run with
the weather, only 4 seriously wet days while walking from Logrono.

Speaking of Logrono, the albergue I stayed at on the first night
stands out for me as my best albergue experience. It was one of the
best nights for me on the whole camino. Subsequent experiences varied
from OK to horrid but I can't say I'm a fan of that style of
accommodation.

Another positive experience was a brief but happy one. It was meeting
the priest in Boente. Instead of the usual locked church, this small
church was open and the priest stood outside warmly greeting everyone
who passed.

Several times similar things happened. Leaving Burgos, a gentleman
gave me a long lecture (in Spanish) about a Camino-related statue. He
was enthusiastic about the Camino and and left me feeling emergised
despite the light rain that was falling.

Another time I was feeling very weary with quite a way to go and a
French-Canadian couple came along and we chatted for a while. They
quickly left me behind but I felt much better for the company. I saw
them again in Santiago as they set off for Finisterre.

As happened last year, I haven't recovered from the tiredness that I
experienced on the last couple of days of the Camino. I think this is
due to abandoning my gluten-free diet during the walk. I should
recover quickly once I'm back on the straight-and-narrow.

I managed a good gluten-free meal on my last night in Santiago.
Malaysian style fried rice served in a Turkish restaurant. No soy
sauce but it was delicious.

Cheers
John